Mass Effect 3 takes to the skies

Over the years, I've seen some very strange gimmicks to promote video games. At least two of the most memorable campaigns were run by EA in honor of its popular Godfather franchise.

One saw EA putting oranges in the streets, while the other centered on Godfather II press kits being sent out with brass knuckles - which are illegal in certain US cities. Unsurprisingly, EA quickly asked journalists to return the brass knucles, which was considered somewhat of a strange request at the time.

Now EA has put all that behind itself, because the company's latest video game promotion for Mass Effect 3 seems to be the most awesome yet.

Yes, for this upcoming marketing gimmick, EA is taking weather balloons, attaching copies of the video game, and lofting them tens of thousands of feet into the air.

Each of the game copies will be equipped with a GPS transmitter, meaning, fans will be able to follow their location via the Mass Effect website.

These balloons will be launched a week before the game officially hits stores on March 6. If you live in one of the cities where the balloons will be let loose, and you manage to find the game when it comes back to earth, well, you can obviously keep it.

EA will be launching the balloons in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, and Paris. I can only imagine how many geeks will be following this gimmick, and I have to wonder if any brawls break out if more than one person finds the location of the game at the same time.

One thing is for certain, though: these early copies of Mass Effect 3 will obviously be quite difficult to find. Think about it- a weather balloon floating miles above the surface of the planet could end up a very long way from where it was originally launched.